


Palladium

by Trojie



Category: Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Introspection, Self-Destruction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-27
Updated: 2012-08-26
Packaged: 2017-11-12 23:46:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/497012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trojie/pseuds/Trojie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Palladium's a catalyst. It changes things.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. (not everybody runs on batteries)

**Author's Note:**

> Short _Iron Man 2_ Tony-centric bits and bobs.

The arc reactor doesn't power his heart - it protects it. The press always get that wrong.

A heart is a muscle, which is a machine. It has inputs and outputs, valves and chambers - if the body were a car, Tony's would be a hot-rod, and his heart is a small-block Chevy. There's nothing wrong with it, perfectly engineered, except for what's in it - all the broken bits of the things he built. They'd cut him to pieces, except there's a magnet in his chest and he invented a power source for it, to hold them steady despite the heartbeat pulling them deeper. His very own battery, to save himself from his very own heart. Because he's Tony fucking Stark, and he can overrule biological imperatives whenever he wants, whether they're about sleep, or living off nothing but very expensive coffee, or involuntary muscular contractions. But the problem with batteries is they run out. The truth is, Tony Stark is going to die of an explosion. 

It's the slowest death in human history.


	2. (the device that is keeping you alive is also killing you)

Every time he pulls out an old core, lumpy with ion damage, like electroplating gone wrong, Tony remembers the doctor Pepper dragged him to, after the press conference where he said he wasn't going to make weapons any more.

_He's still assimilating being alive. And inside him, he knows, his body is assimilating the bits of his bombs, every tiny incision knitting itself back together around the shrapnel, all of it held in stasis by the reactor. The doctor reaches for it and Tony flinches, has to literally force himself not to punch the man._

_When it becomes clear he won't let the doctor look at it, he gets interrogated instead. What is it? (An electromagnet, basically). How did you build it? (With my hands, you idiot. Yes, in a dirty workshop. Yes, out of military-grade components. No, not with a steriliser)._

_What does it run on? (Palladium)._

_'Do you_ know _what palladium can_ do _?' the doctor demands. Does Tony know what palladium can do? Gee. Let's think._

_Palladium. Pd. Atomic number 46. Platinum group metal with the lowest melting point. Seven isotopes, of which six are stable. Lethal dosage in humans unknown. Used in catalytic converters, hydrogen purifiers, fuel cells._

_It all flicks up in a nanosecond. But Tony's too tired to give a lecture on PGMs or cubic crystal systems or advances in transport technology solutions. His arm hurts. Obie's angry with him. Pepper's eyes are still red from crying._

_'Do you have any_ idea _\- ' the doctor is still raving._

_Tony snaps. 'No-one knows,' he says. 'Don't try to take me to school, doctor, because better men than you already tried it. No-one knows what prolonged palladium exposure does to human tissue, but I guess we'll find out.'_

_'What's it_ for _?' the doctor asks, almost pleading._

_Tony's already chucking his suit jacket over the sling. 'Oh, palladium?' he asks, knowing the doctor means in the specific, but hell, why waste a good line if you've got one? 'It's a catalyst, doc. It changes things.'_

Tony remembers that conversation a lot, as the palladium starts to change him.


	3. (got any other bad ideas?)

'Tony, before you go? Palladium in the chest. Painful way to die.'

Tony doesn't dignify that with a reaction. It doesn't matter. Tony knows he's living on borrowed time. He's always had a reputation: Tony Stark is the Merchant of Death. Tony Stark is Iron Man. Tony Stark doesn't have a heart, they say. Well, Vanko can take his diagnosis and he can shove it. 

Tony Stark wears his brain on his sleeve. What's in his chest is none of anyone else's business.


End file.
